


soror mea, amica mea

by rxginamills



Category: Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Genre: Family, Gen, One-Sided Attraction, Pining, Sisters, and it inspires me and it's a bop, and the bimbettes interest me and i got this idea so i was like HEY, i also love the quote from the crown, i just wanna write about their relationship as sisters idk, i was watching batb 2017 aka one of my favorite movies of all time, i'm listening to diamonds are forever by sabrina carpenter while writing this, it will probably be ooc but oh well, so go listen to it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-14 08:03:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16909218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rxginamills/pseuds/rxginamills
Summary: Elise, Eloise and Eliana muse about the time they were not sisters but competitors and how it was the biggest mistake they ever made.





	soror mea, amica mea

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sure most of you know this little fact already, but to those who don't: the reason I'm using these three names is that the actresses who portrayed the Bimbettes in the 2017 movie gave the girls the names themselves. Their ages are my headcanon, though. 
> 
> Elise = Rafaëlle Cohen  
> Eloise = Carla Nella  
> Eliana = Sophie Reid
> 
> I hope you all enjoy the fanfic!

"You are sisters above all else, and must never let one another down." 

 

* * *

 

As much as she hated saying it, Elise envied her sisters.

She was the youngest and the smallest from the three of them, and she had spent more nights than she dared admit thinking about how maybe their mother had spent all the beauty she had available on Eloise and Eliana and given her the scraps. Looking at tall, confident Eloise and shy but sweet Eliana made Elise feel even smaller than she already was. 

Her sisters were ethereal, and she loved them with all her heart because it was what sisters did, but it didn't help her when she was feeling like she was less than them. Multiple suitors had already passed by their house, bringing their mother roses and asking for Eloise's hand in marriage. They were wealthy and on the good-looking side too; Eloise could've had a mansion in the countryside with five dark-haired children running around and they'd all grow up to be as beautiful as her.

Elise laughed quietly and ran a hairbrush through her hair. Eloise always said no, for her heart was already yearning for another. One time he passed them at the market, and Elise made the mistake of looking in his direction. She was instantly as lost as her sister. It didn't take long for Eliana to fall for him too. 

He was Gaston, the son of a mighty hunter with the strength of three race horses and a face more perfect than Elise had ever seen. He was independent and brave; perhaps not from the most intelligent or courteous end, but all three sisters were absolutely smitten with him nonetheless. He had one minor flaw.

He never even cast a glance at them. 

Elise tore her heart apart loving Gaston from a distance, but it was worse to watch her older sisters go through the same. Looks had never been as important as they were now when there was this divine man in their life. Nothing was as important as gaining Gaston's attention, even for a second. 

"What does Gaston see in that Belle?" Elise had asked as she laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling, "I mean, she's so, so - " 

"Plain," Eliana had spat immediately.

"Odd!" had come from Eloise. 

" _Exactement!_ " Elise had said exasperatedly and then sighed, "He'd be so lucky to have m - uh, any of us."

Eliana's jaw had dropped a little, "You - you were about to say "me", weren't you? You think you're the only one worthy of Gaston's love!"

Elise had sat up properly, "No, I swear - "

"You're lying!" 

"Calm yourselves," Eloise had snapped, "It isn't like he would spare either of you a thought."

Elise had looked toward Eloise. She had stood there in a blush-coloured nightgown with her dark hair neatly brushed over her chest. Elise had felt her stomach turn at the sight of her gorgeous sister. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eliana had asked with a frown. 

"It means, sister dear, that when Gaston sees me tomorrow he will forget all about Belle and the two of you and any woman he's ever looked at. You don't stand a chance. I will marry him."

Eliana's face had grown hot red with anger, "Why, you insolent, arrogant, snobbish - "

Elise was able to laugh at the memory now that it was all over and Gaston was gone. It saddened her to think about what that man had turned them into. The two women in their shared bedroom that night had not been her big sisters; they had been her enemies, her competition, something impossible to beat.

Elise felt beautiful now. It hadn't been an exactly easy path to self love, especially when Eloise and Eliana seemed to grow more gorgeous every day, but she knew now that she was not any less than them and she no longer had to compete against them. She would always be equal with her sisters for as long as she lived.

Sisterhood came before everything, but it hadn't always been that way. 

 

* * *

 

Eliana was the middle child and somehow that fact always managed to take away from her glory. She was enchanting and polite but those were fairly irrelevant; what was she in the eyes of her relatives and her family? In Eliana's eyes there was not much, if anything, that made the middle child special in the way the other two were.

The youngest child was and would always be pampered because everything was still ahead for her. The balls, the suitors, the glamour… Elise would grow up to have all of it because she was her parents' little diamond, precious and polished.

Eloise, on the other hand, was the oldest and therefore the pride of the family. She was every bit as exquisite as their mother had been in their age and still was. Eliana secretly suspected that their mother favoured Eloise, and it wouldn't have surprised her if it was true. 

Eliana didn't hate her sisters, there was not a single cell in her body that could ever make her wish ill upon Elise and Eloise, but being the middle child got exhausting sometimes. Three was an odd number, and someone would always be left out of the equation; perhaps it was meant to be her for the rest of her life. No one would ever look past Eloise and notice beautiful, blooming Eliana, especially not Gaston.

The poor man loved himself more than everyone else, and seemed to think that the only woman worth his time was Belle: the peculiar, far-too-clever-for-her-own-good daughter of Maurice, the sad man who lost his wife to the Plague. Eliana had found it so baffling that someone like Belle could ever amount to anything in Gaston's eyes; she was so _ordinary_.

Fast forward half a year and Belle was suddenly the king's wife, happy and wealthy and smiling with her cheeks flushed like they always were. She forgave Eliana and her sisters, which, at the time, they had found absurd. After all the cruelty and jealousy and attempts to make her miserable, she was still so good at heart that she forgave the three of them. 

It was much easier for Belle to forgive the sisters than it was for them to forgive each other. They never wanted to hurt each other, and sometimes it even felt like their heartbreaking pining for Gaston had brought them closer as a trio. Still, they were gladiators in battle, fighting for the attention of the most handsome man in the village, and winning was the number one priority. 

"Must you really fight, _ma fille?_ " their sweet mother had asked one day, adjusting the wigs in the store, "They are your sisters. You love each other. Is the affection of this man really worth destroying your relationship with Elise and Eloise?"

"They have everything, _maman_!" Eliana had exclaimed, throwing her blonde wig on the floor angrily, "It's time for me to have something too."

 

* * *

 

Eloise's greatest mission had always been to protect her sisters and make sure that they were happy every day. Before she had gone through puberty and blossomed, before she began fishing for the attention of men, before she fell head over heels for the mighty Gaston, her little sisters had been her priority. Watching them smile and comb their hair and twirl in the pink dresses was all that Eloise needed to be happy. 

She remembered sitting with her mother in the lounge, at the age of 15, sipping tea from a delicate cup and carefully listening to her speak. She stared into her mother's eyes, the eyes that were her own, and got the greatest piece of advice anyone would ever give her.

"Always look after your little sisters, _princesse_. You will never have a greater love than theirs. Hold them close."

Eloise had stuck by that advice all her life. She loved her sisters unconditionally and never failed to nourish them and care for them in the way big sisters should.

That was, until Gaston showed up with his muscles and gorgeous eyes and confidence. Eloise always thought that what she had was confidence and grace, but it was nothing compared to Gaston’s. 

The night after the battle at the castle Eloise crumbled on the floor and cried, realizing that she had failed in her most important task. 

All she wanted was to protect Elise and Eliana; protect them from souls that meant them harm, protect them from nasty comments that were intended to break their spirits, protect them from men that did not deserve them and would eventually break their hearts and step on the pieces. She wanted to protect them because it was her duty as their older sister, but her desperate one-sided love for Gaston blinded her. He was the kind of man she should’ve protected them from. 

Elise and Eliana fell into shadow, almost literally crawling at Gaston’s feet to get a piece of him, to get his attention and affection even for a second’s time. Eloise watched them begin to lose themselves, and then let it happen to herself too, because Gaston was the perfect man. Who wouldn’t want a perfect man?

Eloise braided Elise’s hair with a tear in her eye, thinking about how glad she was that everything they went through, and put everyone else and each other through, was in the past. They were happier with Gaston gone and Adam and Belle as king and queen. 

Eloise looked to a dancing Eliana first and listened to her go on and on about the man she was seeing, and then focused on Elise, who was sitting in front of her as her hair was being braided. These two girls were everything to her.

”Eloise?” came Elise’s voice. 

”Yes, _papillon_?”

”Can you promise that the three of us will always be together? Can you promise that even when we all find husbands and move to different parts of the country and have six babies we will still be sisters?” 

Eloise’s heart felt warm, and Elise seemed smaller than she had in years. Eliana stopped dancing in bliss and walked to sit on the bed with them.

”Of course, Elise. We will always be sisters, and nothing will ever change that. No man in the world can break what we have. Never again.” Eloise explained as she finished braiding Elise’s hair and tied a pink ribbon in it. 

”Promise?” Eliana repeated. Eloise took her and Elise’s hands.

”Promise.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I love how this fic turned out! I’m so proud of myself. Here’s a quick recap:
> 
> Elise is the youngest and she doesn’t think she’s as beautiful as the other two.  
> Eliana is the middle child and she thinks that she matters less because of that.  
> Eloise is the oldest and she feels like she has failed as a big sister and wasn’t able to protect Elise and Eliana. 
> 
> But in the end it turned out okay for all three of them! Thanks for reading, I hope you all enjoyed this!


End file.
